US Open players get that sinking feeling, straight down into the rough at brutal Oakmont

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Gary Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, waved the rules official over. Certainly, a ball buried that deep must have embedded into the soft turf below when his off-line drive on the 12th hole landed with a thunk, about 10 yards right of the fairway.

No such luck, the official told him. The rough at Oakmont is just that deep — and thick and hard to escape. Instead of taking a free drop that's allowed for an embedded ball, Woodland had to replace it where he found it, get out his wedge, take a hack and pray — leading to his first blemish on the way to a round of 3-over 73.

His was a common story during the opening round of the U.S. Open on Thursday, where the rough was gnarly, thick and sometimes downright impossible.

“Even for a guy like me, I can’t get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie,” said defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, who makes a living on overpowering golf courses and gouging out of the thick stuff. “It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf.”

DeChambeau was at even par when he nuked his second shot over the green and into the rough in back of the 12th green. The grass opened up his club face on the third and rifled the ball into more rough. He needed two more shots to advance the ball from there to the fringe. He also shot 73.

“If you miss the green, you miss it by too much, you then try to play an 8-yard pitch over the rough onto a green that’s brick hard running away from you,” Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre said, in describing some of the challenges Oakmont presents after his round of even-par 70. “It just feels like every shot is on a knife edge.”

Punishing the best in the world is exactly how the superintendents at what might be America's toughest golf course planned it.

For the record, they do mow this rough. If they didn't, there's a chance some of the grass would pillow over on top of itself, allowing the ball to perch up instead of sink down. The mowers here have blades that use suction to pull the grass upward as they cut, helping the grass stand up straight and creating the physics that allow the ball to sink to the bottom.

Which is exactly where Rory McIlroy found his third shot, then his fourth, after failing to reach the fairway from the deep fescue after his wayward drive on the par-5 fourth. He made 6 there on his way to 74.

On No. 3, top-ranked Scottie Scheffler hit his tee shot into the famous church pew bunker, then cooked his second shot up the hill and over the green. The rough opened up his clubface on the chip, sending the ball into the second cut of fringe. He got down in two to save bogey there.

Patrick Reed hit the shot of the day. It was a 286-yarder from the fairway that hit the green and dropped in for only the fourth albatross — a 2 on a par 5 — in recorded U.S. Open history.

If only he could have stopped there. He closed the day with a triple-bogey 7 that included a shot from a downhill lie just outside a fairway bunker that he advanced about 40 yards. He shot 73.

"If you get in the rough, good luck," Reed said.

Maybe J.J. Spaun figured it out the best.

With the dew still slickening the grass for his early tee time, Spaun chipped in from a gnarly lie on his first hole to open the Open with a birdie. He only hit eight of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens, but that was good enough for a 4-under 66, which sent him home with the lead and a chance to watch the afternoon players suffer.

“I like feeling uncomfortable,” Spaun said.

Not everyone did.

Austen Truslow might have finished the day tied with McIlroy at 74 had it not taken three shots — one of them a whiff — to move the ball from the greenside rough onto the putting surface on his last hole, the par-4 ninth. Truslow made 6 — one of 137 scores of double bogey or worse in Round 1 — and shot 76.

Maybe the most fitting scene came late in the day, after Byeong Hun An tapped in for a par on No. 18 to finish his own round of 74. He plucked the ball from the hole and tried casually tossing it to a boy waiting behind the ropes. The ball bounced twice, but got stuck in the rough, so An had to walk over, pick it up and hand it to the kid.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Scottie Scheffler hits from a bunker on the sixth hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Patrick Reed signals his tee shot is right on the seventh tee during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Jason Day, of Australia, tees off on the seventh hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Patrick Reed tees off on the seventh hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Thriston Lawrence, of South Africa, hits from the 18th fairway during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — World Cup fans in a growing number of U.S. cities won't have an issue finding a well-poured pint to go with their late-night match.

State leaders across the U.S. are signing off on extending bar and restaurant hours during the world’s most-watched sporting event. They want to help businesses and improve fan experiences, particularly for those who may have been priced out of tickets. Others see the move as a last-ditch effort to boost sales as expectations for a World Cup economic boon have dampened.

So far, Kansas, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington — states either hosting World Cup matches or adjacent to the activity — have all approved various measures to extend hours for alcohol sales during the tournament. Similar proposals are being considered in New York and Massachusetts.

The changes mean that closing time won’t come until 4 a.m. in Philadelphia during the World Cup and America 250 celebrations. In Kansas City, some bars can stay open as late as 5 a.m.

Many of these changes are dependent on municipality approval, and no business would be required to extend business hours. But for the hospitality industry, already struggling under waning sales and inflation, the option to stay open later is welcomed.

Mark Prinzinger, owner of Lion Sports Bar in Philadelphia, described watching soccer with fans from all over the world as a “magical experience." Now that he has the option to keep his bar open two hours longer, he’s hired extra staff, streamlined the menus and planned late-night programming.

“People want to have a beer with other soccer fans and the great thing about the World Cup is that it brings people together from all over the world into one place to watch a sport that everybody loves,” he said.

Prinzinger and other bar, restaurant and nightlife venues in Pennsylvania will be allowed to move their closing times from 2 a.m. until 4 a.m. during the World Cup and the America 250 anniversary celebrations, between June 11 and July 20. Gov. Josh Shapiro approved the legislation by releasing a video showing him cracking open a beer, signing off the social media post with a cheeky warning to the City of Brotherly Love's reputation for getting rowdy: “Celebrate responsibly, Philly.”

With more hours available to drink, some critics have raised concerns about public safety and potential strain on law enforcement even as the effort has received bipartisan support from lawmakers.

In Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Quinton Lucas initially stated that his city “doesn't need bars operating 23 hours” during the World Cup and joked, “Worry not, if you want to drink a ton, bars can open quite early.”

Yet bar owners bristle under such opposition, saying that most businesses prioritize training staff to prevent patrons from being overserved.

“Just because people are hanging out at the bar watching a soccer game doesn’t mean they’re getting blitzed,” Prinzinger said. “In fact, I would say it’s completely the opposite. I think people want to watch the game. People want to be engaged.”

Rhode Island Rep. Teresa Tanzi agreed.

“Not everybody that’s going to walk into a place is going to be chugging drinks and getting loaded,” Tanzi, a Democrat, said earlier this month on the House floor. “There are going to be families who are going to want a cheeseburger, an American cheeseburger, and a Coca-Cola."

Rhode Island, which is closer than Boston is to World Cup matches host Gillette Stadium, is weighing whether to extend alcohol sales to 3 a.m. and closing times to 4 a.m. Currently, last call in the smallest U.S. state is 1 a.m., with some exceptions for its capital city of Providence.

Even Lucas relented, eventually submitting a plan allowing Kansas City restaurants and bars to remain open until 3 a.m., and certain establishments to remain open until 5 a.m. if they submit a security plan to the police department. Currently, alcohol sales can generally be made between 6 a.m. through 1:30 a.m.

The extended hours aren't entirely a U.S. trend. Pubs in England and Wales will be able to stay open as late as 2 a.m. if the English or Scottish teams are playing in the knockout stages after the U.K. government relaxed its licensing rules.

In Scotland, which has its own semiautonomous government, local authorities can allow pubs to stay open until 30 minutes after matches end.

According to the World Cup schedule, a majority of games will be held from early afternoon through early evening. But a handful start later, with four games starting at midnight and eight games starting at 10 p.m. for those watching in the Eastern time zone.

Just how big of a demand there will be for late-night bites and drinks is somewhat unknown. In the U.S., consumer habits have shifted drastically ever since the COVID-19 pandemic, with more people choosing to go out earlier in the day and spending less overall, said David Henkes, senior principal at Technomic, a firm that monitors restaurant and food industry trends.

“It’s so hard to stay open late night or overnight just because it’s hard to find labor,” Henkes said. “I applaud the effort to give restaurants an opportunity to earn more revenue, but I’m not sure that there’s going to be significant enough demand for it to make sense for a lot of operators to do so.”

Associated Press writer Brian Melley contributed from London.

AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup

Lion Sports Bar owner Mark Prinzinger poses behind the bar as fans watch a Champion league soccer match between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)

Fans arrive to watch a Champion league soccer match between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain at the Lion Sports Bar, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)

Fans watch a Champion league soccer match between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain at the Lion Sports Bar, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)

Fans watch a Champion league soccer match between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain at the Lion Sports Bar, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)

Fans watch a Champion league soccer match between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain at the Lion Sports Bar, Saturday, May 30, 2026, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Tassanee Vejpongsa)